Chosen!

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 49:1-7

This is what the Lord says . . . “the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
— Isaiah 49:7

We were lost. Dad
left when I was four. I recall riding a bus with Mom and my little
brother. Where were we going? “To Aunt Jessie’s,” she said. I
liked Mom’s sister but didn’t understand we were moving there. My
aunt and uncle had decided they had to help my now single, working
mother raise her two sons.

Isaiah 49 brings
that memory to mind, especially during Holy Week. My aunt and uncle
didn’t just give us a home; they embraced us as part of their
family. With their daughter we became what today would be called a
“blended family.” It became quite happy. My uncle, who died years
ago, wasn’t religious; yet by embracing us he became a “God the
Father” figure for me. And very late in life God raised in him
faith in Christ.

God chose Israel
before her birth. He remained faithful to his people although they
wandered, so that Israel could become “a light for the Gentiles.”
He made his people a nation that the world would know as God’s
chosen. Isaiah received God’s promise some 700 years before Jesus
fulfilled it on the road to Jerusalem. Now God’s Son would bring
salvation to all peoples, Gentiles as well as Jews. Jesus trekked
resolutely toward Good Friday’s cross to redeem his people and make
them the light of the world. Chosen!

Prayer

Thank you, God, for choosing us when we were lost and didn’t know it! As Jesus approaches the cross to fulfill your promises, open our eyes and make us grateful believers. In Christ, Amen.